Supes reappoint Rosenhan as county fire services coordinator

The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors approved unanimously to reappoint Kirk Rosenhan as the County Fire Services Coordinator during their meeting on Tuesday.

The appointment will last for one year.

President of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Orlando Trainer apologized to Rosenhan, saying they did not mean to single him out by giving him the two week reappointment during their last meeting without prior notice.

“The board, going forward, we are going to do a better job on assessing positions prior to the beginning of the year so we won’t have to be in a situation like this again,” Trainer said.

Before moving through the interview process, Trainer said the board wanted to hear from Rosenhan to receive a report of thoughts and ideas, as well as dilemmas and recommendations for the future.
Rosenhan said finding out about his status the way he did was “interesting” and apologized for not keeping the board as informed as it should have been.

When asked about how long he was wanting to serve, Rosenhan said he understands his age is becoming a factor, but he said it shouldn’t get in the way of how passionate he is for the job.

“I don’t plan on being here forever,” Rosenhan said. “This is what I like to do, and I’d like to think I’m contributing.”

District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard brought the initial discussion of the fire services coordinator position to the board during their last meeting, which sparked the evaluation of Rosenhan’s performance.

During the discussion Howard shared his concerns of Rosenhan not providing a comprehensive plan to highlight current and future plans.

Along with the comprehensive plan, Howard claimed some of the county fire station ratings could have been dropped from a 10 to a 9 if the right paperwork had been filed.

Howard said he wanted to echo Trainer and apologize for singling out Rosenhan, but is looking for a better streamline of information.

Howard said during this year period, he is wanting to get everyone together to talk about the fire services and how to accomplish goals, instead of talking about the issues and challenges.

Rosenhan said when the board initially reappointed him for two weeks, it made him realize there is some work needed to be done prior to when his year is up.

“This two weeks has been pretty much a wake up call to remind me of some loose ends out there,” Rosenhan said.

Howard told the Starkville Daily News he thinks the discussion between Rosenhan and the board went well. He said even though there was a brief disagreement, he appreciates Rosenhan for his many years of service.

“I think we just needed to open up the dialogue and we needed some sort of reporting mechanism to keep everybody in the loop,” Howard said.“That’s all we were asking for and hopefully going forward, that’s what we will get.”

Rosenhan said he is grateful of the support he had in the audience, and now since the board has made its decision to reappoint him, he will work to be better with plans moving forward.

“Certainly I’m happy to be able to continue my work,” Rosenhan said. “Obviously we need to communicate with the board a little bit more.”

OTHER BUSINESS:

• The board approved to begin advertising for different roads.

• The board approved lobbying opportunities with Clearwater Group LLC.